Benjamin Harrison - Post-presidency and Death

Post-presidency and Death

After he left office, Harrison visited the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in June 1893, where the nation's first commemorative postage was introduced. It was an initiative of his Postmaster General, John Wanamaker. After the Expo, Harrison returned to his home in Indianapolis.

For a few months in 1894, Harrison lived in San Francisco, California, where he taught and gave law lectures at Stanford University. In 1896 some of Harrison's friends in the Republican party tried to convince him to seek the presidency again, but he declined. In support of the candidate William McKinley, he traveled around the nation making appearances and speeches in his behalf.

Among the activities he became involved in, from July 1895 to March 1901, Harrison served on the Board of Trustees of Purdue University. Harrison Hall, a campus dormitory, was named in his honor.

In 1896 Harrison at age 62 remarried, to Mary Scott Lord Dimmick, the niece and former secretary of his deceased wife. A widow, she was 37, a full 25 years his junior. Harrison's two children were adults, Russell, 41 years old at the time, and Mary (Mamie) McKee, 38, disapproved of the marriage and did not attend the wedding. Benjamin and Mary had one child together, Elizabeth (February 21, 1897 – December 26, 1955).

In 1889 Harrison was elected an honorary member of the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati. Harrison was also a veteran companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and an honorary companion of the Military Order of Foreign Wars. His wife served as the first President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) from 1890-1891.

He wrote a series of articles about the Federal government and the presidency, which were republished in 1897 as a book titled This Country of Ours. In 1899 Harrison attended the First Peace Conference at The Hague.

In 1900 Harrison served as an attorney for the Republic of Venezuela in their boundary dispute with the United Kingdom. The two nations disputed the border between Venezuela and British Guiana. An international trial was agreed upon and the Venezuelan government hired Harrison to represent them in the case. He filed an 800-page brief for them and traveled to Paris where he spent more than 25 hours arguing in court. Although he lost the case, his legal arguments won him international renown.

Harrison developed what was thought to be influenza or grippe in February 1901. He was treated with steam vapor inhalation and oxygen, but his condition worsened. He died from pneumonia at his home on Wednesday, March 13, 1901, at the age of 67. Harrison is interred in Indianapolis's Crown Hill Cemetery, next to Caroline. After her death, Mary Dimmick Harrison was buried next to him.